Well hey, it’s a shame we didn’t get this in time for the deluge of corsetry pictures from a few weeks back, but I reckon this piece by Greg Belanger at Ink Spot Tattoos in Ottawa, Ontario, is about as close to a “permanent” corset as we’re likely to find. Right? Get it? Because it’s a tatt—oh, forget it.
Happy Tuesday, ModBloggers. We’re stretched in miles, not in yards.
Last week, this glorious bear backpiece helped us put an end to the minor drought of awe-inspiring animal tattoos here on the ol’ ModBlog, and now the St. Petersburg Tattoo Convention is coming through for us again! Except instead of animalia, this time around we have a…hmm, porcelain Jesus, maybe? (Great Depeche Mode song, by the way.) It’s a haunting piece of work, whatever the inspiration. (If you’re the wearer or the artist, let us know! The photos from this convention had very little info attached.)
See more in “Fantasy Tattoos“ (Tattoos)
 |
[Telegraph] Holy shit, you guys! It happened, it finally happened! Our long, national nightmare is finally over! After a solid week of mind-numbing idiocy and hilariously poorly thought out lies, one of the great dumb stories of our time has reached its logical conclusion. Are you ready for this, folks? Get a beverage, find a comfortable seat and let the warm sunshine wash over you as we collectively revel in what we can only imagine will be the last we hear of this foolishness, at least until Chuckles over there gets cast on Big Brother UK or something. Anyway, that whole canard about falling asleep in the chair at the tattoo shop? LIES, LIES, BALD-FACED LIES.
Kimberley Vlaminck had insisted she dozed off after asking the tattooist for just three small stars – then woke in horror to find her face was covered.
[…]
Amid a frenzy of media attention, she then pledged to sue the tattoo artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, for the £9,000 she needed for laser surgery to have them removed.
She said after the tattooing last week: “It is terrible for me. I cannot go out on to the street. I look like a freak.”
But the 18-year-old has finally confessed she did not fall asleep, that she wanted all the stars and was “fully aware” of what Mr Toumaniantz was doing.
Ms Vlaminck told a Dutch TV crew: “I asked for 56 stars and initially adored them. But when my father saw them, he was furious. So I said I fell asleep and the tattooist made a mistake.”
And so ends the ignominious tale of a common boob. As mentioned above, though, if history has taught us anything, she will be back, probably on a reality program, or getting punched in the face by a big foam fist on some Japanese-style game show. We can only hope.
[Edmonton Sun] Last week, we mentioned the story of Zipp’s Tattoo and Museum, the Edmonton, Alberta, tattoo shop that has been shuttered for, among other reasons, miserably failing to meet basic standards of cleanliness, evidenced by the fact that this goon was tattooing animals in the same place as humans. This is typically frowned upon. Luckily, it seems like some good might come out of this! Mike Francis, owner of Little Buddha Tattoo & Piercings, is now trying to mobilize artists and shop owners in the area to be as public and forthcoming as possible with regard to their commitment to meeting safety standards.
[Francis] started a Facebook group for local studios to post spore test results of sterilization machines, inspection dates and other sanitation information for potential clients to check out while researching studios.
Francis, who laments the lack of licensing in the industry, said he’s intended to create the group for awhile, but the recent scare at Zipp’s Tattoo & Museum was “the final straw.”
[…]
The closure has been an embarrassment to reputable studios in the city, Francis said.
“What I’m hoping (the Facebook group) is going to do is people are going to investigate their tattoo studios around the city,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s me or (another studio), at least you’ll be able to go through it and see we do a regular spore test.”
While his studio hasn’t felt any economic impact from the incident yet, clients are clearly unsettled.
“My first appointment today was at 12 p.m. and the first thing out of his mouth was, ‘You’re using clean needles, right?’” he recalled.
In the description of the group, Sterile Tattoo & Piercing Studios In and Around Edmonton, he wrote, “As a studio owner, let’s try to change what others have destroyed.”
Well hey, this is a solid idea! Now, some may feel it’s an invasion of sorts and that this sort of disclosure may lead to a situation where individuals and shops are put into a position to preemptively prove their innocence rather than defend themselves against accusations of guilt, but it’s still hard to not see these sorts of actions as promising steps toward further acceptance in the public eye. Jason McDonald, the environmental public health officer who pulled the plug on Zipp’s, has the money quote at the end of the article: “There are roughly 50 studios in the Edmonton area and they’re generally in compliance and doing a good thing. I would get a tattoo in any of the studios open today. That’s the key message: this is a safe industry.”
 |
[His Hair Clinic] And finally, some more good news. (Though this may be old news and simply news to me. News, news. News.) Apparently, tattoos are no longer just something you wake up with on your face after falling asleep in sundry locales, but they can also do some good if used properly! Like, say, the folks at His Hair Clinic are doing—now, grown men needn’t any longer face the gross indignity of receding hairlines! As you can see, the cosmetic scientists at work here simply give you a close noggin shave, then tattoo a realistic-looking hairline, giving you the hirsute appearance you crave. On the downside, due to these facial/head tattoos, these gentlemen will never be able to get jobs again. Sad.
“Jordan,” the commenters ask, “you know how we enjoy the backpieces, the majestic suspension pictures and the breathtaking scarification work, but where are all the wangs?” Well, ask and you shall receive, gentle commentariat. Here we have Alex, he of Brussels, Belgium, sporting two 6 mm. rod and bead implants apiece, to say nothing of the all-seeing eye at the head of the class there. The implants almost remind me of simple runes, but the eye? The eye knows you’re afraid.
(Implants by Indy at Ritual Body Piercing in Brussels, Belgium.)
Oh, hello there, ModBloggers! Hope the solstice treated you well. Our week begins with one of the great minds of our time, Myke, having one of his patented “Eureka!” moments, but will we ever know what’s going on inside that head? An idea for a renewable energy source? A way to save newspapers…through song? Hamburger earmuffs that effectively deal with the complexities of the Pickle Matrix? I’m sure we’ll find out when the time is right.
Welcome back, folks, but don’t get any big ideas.
(Tattoo done at Blue Lotus Tattoo and The Piercing Lounge on a rainy Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin.)
Well hey now, it wouldn’t be a proper end to a week without it being a casual Friday, am I right? That’d be Ari up there, dick just flappin’ in the breeze, standing next to noted adult film star Jacob Romero. But why? Well:
Blue Boutique (Ari’s place of work) was throwing this gay couples sex toy party, so they got him to come in and autograph DVDs and shit. […] When [he] came in, I knew what I had to ask: “Hey bro, can we get a picture…with our dicks out?”
Those are the kinds of tough questions that win awards, my friend. And just like that, our little week has run its course. What went down this time around?
– Oh dear God, the throat goat is back. Hide the children.
– Wayde Dunn is still a magician.
– Some horndog was licking swords all over the place.
– Chuckie from Hungary stuck a worm in his septum, and the children all cried.
– Not to be outdone, Babasom loaded up his schnozz with spicy peppers. Ball’s in your court, Chuck.
As always, we’ll pop in briefly over the weekend, and then come Monday, it’s back to normal. Until then, enjoy your weekend, folks, stay safe and, of course, thank you for your continued support of BME.
Whoa hey, it’s been a minute since we’ve posted a truly gorgeous large-scale animal/nature tattoo, has it not been? Well, look no further, because this outstanding backpiece from the St. Petersburg Tattoo Convention will probably knock you right on your ass. Any ursinologists out there care to confirm the type of bear? It looks like a Kodiak to me, but ever since the American Zoological Society revoked my license, I’m legally prohibited from making such judgment calls in public.
See more in “Wildlife and Nature Tattoos“ (Tattoos)
This hellhole of a week is finally wrapping up, folks—we can forget all about goons with faces covered in stars, several thousand straight days of rain and whatever else was contributing to our collective misery the past five days and just enjoy the sun as summer rolls into town (for real, hopefully). And hey, as long as our mood is changing for the better, why not keep the good times coming with the heart-stompingly adorable show_pony37, showing off her DIY split tongue. What’s not to like?
[Animal NY] Hoo boy, is this not just the most irritating story ever or what? OK, so, as we (and everybody) mentioned previously, 18-year-old Kimberley Vlaeminck allegedly went to Romanian tattoo artist Rouslan Toumaniantz and ended up with 56 stars tattooed all over her face. She claims she only asked for three and then fell asleep, which is just a preposterously stupid lie, while Toumaniantz says that she knew full well what was happening and only freaked out once her father or boyfriend or whoever lost their respective shit. Now she is suing the tattoo artist, because she wants the stars removed, of course. Is your brain leaking out of your ears yet? Mine is!
Anyway, my initial response to this mess of foolishness was that it was a hoax, because, come on: Nobody involved in this situation could be deranged/myopic enough for any of this to be real, right? Well, Toumaniantz is apparently a member over at BodyMod.org and posted this response, saying he did, in fact, tattoo this crazy person. Hooray.
Then, the girl said she felt asleep during the tattoo session. But :
1) Tattoo hurts,
2) Tattoo hurts more on face than on most other places,
3) Tattoo hurts even more on the nose than on the face,
4) Apart from the pain factor, the emotional impact of a first tattoo is huge, which makes it even less likely to sleep during such a session,
5) During this tattoo I had to ask Kimberley to change quite often her position, because the face isn’t flat and you need to always adjust the persons position and yours to be able to tattoo,
6) Kimberley did stand up many times during the session and did check up the work in a mirror,
7) We spoke during a part of the session,
8) The call log of her mobile phone and SMS activity could easily show that from the start of the session to its end she wasn’t sleeping,
9) And most importantly, a witness, being totally independent from both sides saw all the session from its start to the end, and confirms every word above. Kortrijk police made an inquiry, and both of us (me and the witness) were conducted shortly after Kimberley tattoo was finished to the police station, and both of us said exactly what did happen, and therefore gave exactly the same version of the events. Copies of minutes (in Flemish) we can provide.So Kimberly was absolutely aware of what was happening during all the tattoo session and got what she asked, no more no less.
So that’s the end of it, right? Poor judgment on his part for tattooing an unstable teenager’s face, maybe, but she’s still a dirty rotten liar…right? Well, except for the fact that there is now some dumb Internet toy called The Kimberlizer, which allows people to decorate photos of themselves with the same star pattern as our young heroine, and…you see where this is going, don’t you? From Animal NY:
Among the few media outlets to interview the starlet is Belgian radio station MNM, who’s advertising agency, Famous, is behind the Kimberlizer. A French newspaper says the website, which allows visitors to digitally place 56 stars on their face via webcam, was opened in April, well before the story happened. Additionally, theorists point out that MNM’s logo is a star, just like the ones covering Kimberley Vlaeminck.
In conclusion, no matter what the truth ends up being, there will almost surely not be a more aggravating tattoo-related story all year. BME extends hearty congratulations to everybody involved. Let’s all take turns punching each other in the brains, forever.
[CBS 42] At last, our long national nightmare is over! Megan Fox, the most famous tattooed person since, I don’t know, the Memento guy, has decided to heed her mother’s advice and stop mucking up her body with the devil’s ink. Let us pray.
Fox recently announced plans to cover her entire right arm with ink – but she’s now backed out of the scheme insisting she won’t be heading to the tattoo parlor again any time soon.
She says, “They’re definitely addictive. I don’t have any that I truly regret yet, but I’m sure I will at some point.”
“I’m trying to refrain from going forward for that reason. I don’t want to be 40, looking at my arm in the mirror and going, ‘Oh my God – what did I do?’”
In exchange for this promise, Fox’s mom will now let her wear make-up to school and have sleepovers every Saturday night.
[Vancouver Sun] And finally, let’s finish this wretchedly awful news week with reports that yet another Canadian tattoo and piercing shop is giving all of its customers HIV and every type of hepatitis, except this time it’s not just a matter of lazy paperwork: The clown at the centre of this story is “Zipp,” the proprietor of Edmonton, Alberta’s Zipp’s Tattoo and Museum, who, well…
On a spur-of-the-moment whim and fuelled with a bit of liquid courage, Corinda got a tattoo of a Playboy bunny on her left hip two months ago.
Now, the 26-year-old is stepping forward to be tested for HIV and hepatitis B and C after the health authority closed Zipp’s Tattoo and Museum shop at Whyte Avenue and 100th Street because of unsanitary practices and sterilization concerns over reusable piercing and tattooing equipment.
The owner told health inspectors he had been recently tattooing animals in his studio, but denied tattooing people.
The health authority is now asking people to come forward for testing.
Hey, come on! The guy is just trying to run your average illegal animal-tattooing dungeon. What’s the big deal? Prudes.
Charges are being considered by the health authority since Zipp’s –in business at another Whyte Avenue location since 1978–was also closed in 2007 because of unsanitary conditions and infection control. At that time, the health inspector said the risk of contracting blood-borne pathogens was considered low because the proprietor used single-use, disposable needles.
[…]
Health inspectors closed the tattoo parlour June 5 after noting the owner didn’t wash his hands before performing procedures and didn’t wear gloves.
Dirty and unsterile instruments were being used on clients, and the ultrasonic cleaning device was not being operated in a sanitary way. Ink went unlabelled and instruments, including needles, were improperly stored and handled.
In all fairness, the child laborers Zipp had “hired” to oversee the cleanliness of the shop totally dropped the ball. “Wah, my fingers hurt, wah, I’m hungry,” they would cry, long into the night, while Zipp tattooed pig after pig, laughing his terrible laugh, the end.
One of the great joys of getting photos from xRonix is that we really never know what to expect. Seriously, check the archives: This is a human chameleon, folks. Will he sport a foppish top-hat and velvet robe? Stand stoically in a crowded marketplace, framed by a mane of dreadlocks? Or, as we can see above, umm…I’m not even exactly sure what this look is. Anime schoolgirl, perhaps? Whatever it is, the fact remains: we’re all very lucky to have him in our lives.
It’s Friday, ModBloggers, and you just made yourself available.